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Obama Spending $1 Million to Fight Global Warming with Wooden Skyscrapers
FrontPage Magazine ^ | March 20, 2014 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 03/21/2014 5:33:42 AM PDT by SJackson

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com -

Obama Spending $1 Million to Fight Global Warming with Wooden Skyscrapers

Posted By Daniel Greenfield On March 20, 2014 @ 4:09 pm In The Point | No Comments

I’m still waiting for the press release on sustainable living by going back to the caves.

Environmentalism, like any leftist ideology, is so incoherent that it has gone straight from activists chaining themselves to trees to fight logging to promoting “emerging wood technologies” to fight Global Warming.

The White House launched a new campaign to sell its global warming agenda to rural America: “sustainable” buildings, including skyscrapers, made out of wood to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

The Agriculture Department (USDA) announced it was launching a new $1 million program to promote wood as a “green” building material to boost rural economies, as well as a $1 million competition “to demonstrate the architectural and commercial viability of using sustainable wood products in high-rise construction,” according to Department.

“Wood may be one of the world’s oldest building materials, but it is now also one of the most advanced,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Building stronger markets for innovative new wood products supports sustainable forestry, helps buffer reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and puts rural America at the forefront of an emerging industry.”

An emerging industry of… wood. I’m pretty sure carpentry has been around for a while. I don’t know how much time you have to spend in Washington to believe that building things out of wood is an emerging industry.

Emerging engineered wood technologies can be used in industrial building projects such as tall buildings and skyscrapers, as well as other projects. By some industry estimates, a 3-5 story building made from emerging wood technologies has the same emissions control as taking up to 550 cars of the road for one year.

But there are worries that have given cities some pause in adopting wooden high-rises. The Oregonian reports that “building codes that restrict wood construction for fear of structural weakness or vulnerability to fire.” Cross-laminated timber panels are combustible, but char and burn out without buckling, reports the Oregonian.

It’s also unclear if wooden panel high-rises and skyscrapers will have the durability of steel buildings and be as economical as steel. Wooden buildings also need to be treated for termites and can warp and twist over time. Steel does not suffer from such problems.

I’m sure it won’t be a problem. Mass death when a fire spreads across a city and takes down all its wooden skyscrapers will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the human beings who have been turned into ash.

The only remaining question is what will environmental activists chain themselves to now?



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Steel as a building material is so late 19th century, a legacy of the colonial powers I guess. I wonder if BHO can ride a horse, they don't use gasoline.
1 posted on 03/21/2014 5:33:42 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: SJackson

No talk of the white “wage slaves” who toiled in the mines and factories and built this great nation?


2 posted on 03/21/2014 5:38:02 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: SJackson

Why just not use stone and finish taking us back into the Stone age?


3 posted on 03/21/2014 5:38:18 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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To: SJackson

“Cross-laminated timber panels are combustible, but char and burn out without buckling, reports the Oregonian.”

This is sheer idiocy and I say that as someone around carpentry all my life.


4 posted on 03/21/2014 5:38:53 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: SJackson

And then, there is Portland cement concrete. Of course it needs steel reinforcing but it is superior to wood both structurally and architecturally.

I would think a proper use of Green wood would be to make the frames and support structures for wind turbine towers and solar collector arrays. That however is not done. There are no such structures made from wood composites.


5 posted on 03/21/2014 5:39:10 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... History is a process, not an event)
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To: SJackson
It’s also unclear if wooden panel high-rises and skyscrapers will have the durability of steel buildings

lol!!!!! Unclear to whom? Come on, this is caveman stupid.

6 posted on 03/21/2014 5:39:19 AM PDT by bill1952 (taxes don't hurt the rich, they keep YOU from becoming rich.)
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To: SJackson

I thought the great Chicago fire showed us something about building cities out of wood

I really want to be 50 stories up in a wood building

NOT


7 posted on 03/21/2014 5:40:07 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: SJackson

Install a moat and bailey, call Monty Python and feign food sickness...


8 posted on 03/21/2014 5:40:19 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: SJackson
I wonder if BHO can ride a horse

Depends on who is driving the horse

9 posted on 03/21/2014 5:43:44 AM PDT by palmer (There's someone in my lead but it's not me)
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To: SJackson
While we're at it let's convert the Spruce Goose into Air Force One.
10 posted on 03/21/2014 5:45:26 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (Obama phones= Bread and circuits.)
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To: SJackson

There’s a reason wooden buildings never reach more than a few stories in height.


11 posted on 03/21/2014 5:47:16 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SJackson

They’re easier for the Eco terrorist to burn like the SF, CA Castro fire recently?


12 posted on 03/21/2014 5:59:02 AM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: SJackson
So in Obama’s Brave New World “skyscrapers are five stories high. Wow.
13 posted on 03/21/2014 6:10:32 AM PDT by prof.h.mandingo (Buck v. Bell (1927) An idea whose time has come (for extreme liberalism))
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To: SJackson

I’ve read this a couple of times. This has to be from the Onion. Satire?


14 posted on 03/21/2014 6:16:03 AM PDT by prof.h.mandingo (Buck v. Bell (1927) An idea whose time has come (for extreme liberalism))
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To: SJackson

Ever been on a wooden roller coaster?

Its a unique experience...fun at the theme park, but not for an office building.


15 posted on 03/21/2014 6:44:05 AM PDT by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: SJackson

I usually agree with Greenfield. However, he is not an engineer. Also, I do not think any of you are based on your comments.

Let me enlighten you. They are not talking about building with the 2x4’s and 2x10’s you can buy at Home Depot.
Laminated Veneer Lumber and cross laminated lumber can replace steel in many of the applications required for tensile strength beam and column applications. Imagine plywood that is 6-12” thick and 40’ long.

Lumber can also be made fire retardant and resistant to insects. This is no different than the bonded cellulose insulation that is blown into EVERY new construction house/building in North America. Bonded cellulose is ground up newspaper treated with a fire retardant. Also, unlike San Francisco and Chicago in the 1800’s, ALL commercial buildings now have sprinkler systems.

ALL modern houses, built in the last 10-20 years already have laminated veneer lumber(LVL) in them. These are the main carrying beams that typically support the center of the house. They replaced solid timber beams because they are STRONGER and lighter. They are also used as the header/carrying beam above your garage door opening. They allow you to have a clear span across much wider spans than traditional wood framing.

Lastly, ask a fire fighter is they would rather go into a wood framed building or a steel framed building that has caught fire. The wood will char and stay up longer than steel.

Concrete is a good building material but you do not see 100 story buildings being built out of concrete alone. That is because it shrinks and expands with changes in weather. It requires large expansion joints or it will buckle. When it shrinks it will crack. Also, it does not have the tensile strength of wood or steel. That is why there is so much rebar added to concrete. However, that rebar is subject to corrosion over time. It is difficult to gauge that corrosion when it is surrounded by 6” of concrete.

FYI, I have a BS in Wood Products Engineering from the SUNY/Syracuse Forestry College. This is Civil/Mechanical Engineering applied specifically to wood. I have also been a lumber broker for 28 years. I have also built/designed and remodeled four houses.


16 posted on 03/21/2014 6:50:06 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: woodbutcher1963

Anything to sell your product huh. LOL


17 posted on 03/21/2014 6:59:09 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SJackson

We need to have a rerun of ‘Towering Inferno’.

That’s what wood does. That’s what wood really wants to do. Lots of effort needs to be expended to make sure that doesn’t happen in fact.


18 posted on 03/21/2014 7:01:05 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: bert

They reason concrete is used is because it is CHEAP and it has good compression strength when cured. It is also very heavy. Why not just build all our multistory buildings out of granite? It has good compression strength, is pretty and will last for 3000 years.

On the other hand. Lets build all our buildings out of graphite, titanium and Kevlar. I am sure a Kevlar building would be much stronger than steel, concrete or cellulose based materials.


19 posted on 03/21/2014 7:01:40 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: cripplecreek

Actually, I have no vested interest in the sale of LVL or composite lumber.

Anything to support your ideas, even when you do not know what you are talking about.

Do you have ANY experience in construction, design or engineering. Have you ever built a dog house?

LOL


20 posted on 03/21/2014 7:04:33 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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